Björk creates sound installation for the Pompidou Center

Icelandic artist Björk has created a sound installation for the Pompidou Center in Paris called Nature Manifesto, which includes the sounds of some extinct and endangered animals. She collaborated on the project with photographer Aleph Molinari.

Coinciding with COP29 – the UN climate change conference – Nature Manifesto runs in a loop as visitors climb the Paris museum’s outdoor escalators from November 20 to December 9. Björk composed the music for the 3-minute and 40-second piece, and Aleph Molinari collaborated on the lyrics and original concept.

Their manifesto reminds the listener of the disastrous state of the climate and the natural world’s innate ability to adapt and find new solutions. Björk’s reading of the manifesto is accompanied by high-pitched sounds, popping, roaring, squeaking and chirping – unsettling because they are the forms of communication of animals we will never see. Björk and Aleph created in collaboration with IRCAM, the French sound institute, which calls the combination of Björk’s voice and the cries of extinct animals “harmonized with natural soundscapes”.

The sound installation is part of Biodiversity: What Culture for What Future?, a four-day forum hosted by the Centre Pompidou from November 20 to 24.

Björk has long used her influence to highlight environmental causes. In 2008, she released Náttúra with Thom Yorke to promote environmental protection in Iceland, a move she repeated with last year’s duet with Rosalía, titled Oral. Recently, she announced the release of Cornucopia, a movie showcasing her climate activism during her most recent tour.

Photo credit: Pompidou Center